


The Adventure's in the Fall

by nathans_tales



Series: TLOU one-shots [2]
Category: The Last of Us
Genre: F/F, Fluff, Pre-Relationship, trying too hard to impress your crush
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-03
Updated: 2020-05-03
Packaged: 2021-03-02 00:13:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 911
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23975815
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nathans_tales/pseuds/nathans_tales
Summary: Ellie's too eager to impress her crush—uh, best friend, Dina, and does something reckless.
Relationships: Dina/Ellie (The Last of Us)
Series: TLOU one-shots [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1725703
Comments: 4
Kudos: 127





	The Adventure's in the Fall

“You’re gonna fall, dumbass!” Dina called up to Ellie, who was now about 20 feet off the ground, hanging off the side of a half-collapsed house. Her knuckles were turning white as she gripped the crumbling trellis through overgrown ivy.

“You’re the one who’s so desperate to see what’s left in here!” Ellie called back.

“Yeah but like, hypothetically! I didn’t mean you should scale up the trellis and risk breaking your ass if you fall,” Dina shouted.

“High risk, high reward, baby!” Ellie called back. Dina laughed and Ellie smiled, her cheeks growing warm.

They had been patrolling just beyond the Jackson perimeter, where an old house had collapsed in on itself a few years back. The staircase was entirely caved in, making it impossible to access the second floor from within the house. Jackson patrols hadn’t paid any attention to it since it collapsed, with nothing left on the bottom floors to loot.

Dina had mentioned that she wished they could get to the second floor, to see if there was anything left worth taking. Ellie, being perhaps a little too eager to impress her, had walked right over to the ivy-covered trellis beneath a second-story window and started to climb.

“This is, by far, the dumbest thing you’ve ever done,” Dina said. Her fingers twiddled nervously with a string on her jacket as she watched Ellie try to find a foothold.

“I can think of at least 3 other things I’ve done that are dumber than this,” Ellie replied. She reached up and grabbed onto a part of the trellis that was somehow still visible amidst the ivy. “And that’s just from this week.”

As she started to pull herself up, she heard an ominous _snap_ and started to fall backwards.

“Ellie!” Dina cried and rushed forwards, hoping to at least cushion her landing. Luckily, Ellie lunged for a different grip and managed to latch onto it before entirely losing her balance. She stayed there for a moment, trying to push her heart back down her throat, then reached up and gripped the windowsill. She pulled herself up, pushed open the window, and flung herself inside.

“Jesus fucking Christ,” she muttered, appreciating the feeling of the solid floor beneath her. She quickly scanned the room to make sure she hadn’t just barged into something dangerous, then turned to call out the window to Dina. “See? Made it!”

Dina looked as though, if she was up there with her, she would throw Ellie out the window herself. “I’m going to fucking murder you when you get back down here.”

Ellie laughed, turned back to the bedroom she now found herself in and started looking for anything that would make her effort worth it.

A few minutes later, she reappeared in the window. “Check it out!” She held up a blue flannel that looked like it had seen better days.

“Oh, great! What about the 15 other flannels you own?” Dina reminded her.

“You can never own too many flannels, Dina,” Ellie replied. She climbed out of the window and started her descent down the old rickety trellis. It creaked and groaned beneath her weight, threatening with every move to let her plummet to the ground. She managed to climb her way down to the last few feet before her luck ran out. The wood splintered, causing Ellie to lose her grip and tumble gracelessly towards the ground. She rolled as soon as her foot hit the grass and she sprang up with the continued momentum. It was only a moment before she felt a hand smack against her shoulder. “Ow, hey!”

“You scared the shit out of me!” Dina said in mock indignation, “I thought I was going to have to drag you back to town with two broken legs. Was it really worth it for a flannel?”

Ellie smiled apologetically and shrugged. “It probably wasn’t worth it for the flannel, but maybe it was for this?” She reached into the breast pocket of her coat and pulled out a necklace. It was a simple, delicate-looking gold chain.

Dina gasped softly. “Oh, damn.”

Ellie held it up to her. “You should put it on, I bet it’d look nice on you.”

Dina turned around and lifted her hair out of the way, waiting for Ellie to put the necklace on her. Ellie, thankful that Dina could not currently see it, felt her face turn red. She reached around Dina and unhooked the necklace, carefully bringing it to rest at the base of her neck. She hooked the clasp and stepped back as Dina dropped her hair back in place and turned to face her.

Ellie suddenly felt her heart jump back to her throat, and tried to push the thought away, excusing it as remaining nerves from her perilous climb. “Oh, wow,” she said, hoping she didn’t sound as breathless as she felt—from the climb, of course.

“It looks good?” Dina asked, brushing her fingers carefully along the chain.

“It looks great!” Ellie insisted, perhaps a bit too eagerly.

“Thanks, Ellie,” Dina said, smiling. She handed Ellie her backpack she’d dropped for the climb, and quickly turned to start their walk back. Ellie could have sworn she saw Dina’s cheeks turning pink… no, it must’ve been the light.

As they walked back to town, Ellie felt her heart beating faster in her chest, but she just clutched the strap of her backpack and blamed it on the fall.


End file.
